Tainted Tendancies
by cookieduck90
Summary: Axel and Roxas find companionship in one another, but its interrupted by some malicious 'friends' and fate's cruel twists. AxelRoxas, AxelMarluxia.
1. Fitting In

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 1 Fitting in**

_**Knock, Knock**_

Axel heard the small clatter against his door and yelled from under his bed covers, "Who is it?"

"It's m...Roxas," A small, muffled voice on the other side of the door replied. Axel looked confusedly at the underside of his bed sheets. Roxas was not one of his usual visitors at this time of night. He was expecting someone along the lines of Marluxia or Vexen, but not the quiet blonde.

"Come in," Axel called again, removing the sheets from over his head, "It's unlocked."

The redhead listened to the doorknob turn and the door open slowly, all the while not moving from his comfortable position in bed. He looked up slowly, seeing the tufts of blonde hair protrude from around the fair skinned face of Roxas. It was quite an adorable sight.

"Hey," Axel called, "What's goin' on?"

Roxas looked skeptically at Axel's head poking out from under the covers and walked farther into the room, "Um...not much, I guess..."

Axel smiled at the blonde and spoke plainly, "If nothing's goin' on, then why're you here? Do you want something...?"

Roxas' eyes widened significantly when Axel mentioned wanting something. He had obviously heard about the red-head's reputation.

"N-no!" He squeaked, his eyes looking away from the skinny man beneath the sheets and his face growing red, "I...Just...I need to...talk...with someone..."

"Talk?" Axel inquired, raising an eyebrow. He knew that he could give comfort sex without hesitation, but talking with some little virgin kid seemed odd to him. He sat up and let the sheets slide off of his torso, resting his elbows on his thighs, "...About what?"

The blonde's eyes darted around the room as he spoke, obviously trying not to look at Axel's thin and battered frame, "Ugh...Just...stuff..."

"Ah, c'mon, Roxas. You gotta gimme more than that to work with," Axel sighed, still smiling. Maybe mentoring the blonde boy wouldn't be so bad after all. He patted a space on the end of the bed and spoke through a yawn, "Close the door and have a seat...Stay a while, eh...?"

Roxas obliged, closing the door lightly and sitting opposite of the red-head on the especially small twin. He looked at his gloved hands in his lap and tried to keep himself from going slack jawed. It was difficult.

"So, what're we gonna talk about, Rox?" Axel asked again, this time using a bit of force in his tone. This 'big-brother' thing might have been fun, but he didn't have all night to talk to this kid. Marluxia had worn him out.

Roxas looked up at him before pulling his gaze quickly back down to his lap, "I...I don't feel like I...fit."

"What...?" Roxas had just thrown the older man for a loop. He thought this was going to be some kind of cutesy 'What's it like?!' talk, not an emo-fest.

"I don't feel like I _fit_ here," Roxas repeated himself, growing a bit redder as he emphasized the 'fit'. He'd been thinking about this for a while.

"What do you mean Roxas? You fit just fine. You're a Nobody just like the rest of us. We're all trying to become whole again," Axel blurted out his opinion, not expecting much opposition. Jeez, did he pick the wrong kid to assume was an idjit.

"No, I don't fit..." Roxas whispered, knitting his brow together, "Just because I'm a Nobody doesn't mean I fit. Just because I have a similar goal as the people here doesn't mean I fit...I'm younger than all of you. I'm the keyblade wielder, unlike any of you. I'm still...a friggin' virgin, which I'm sure no one else in this castle is. I don't fit, Axel..."

"Hey, now, Namine is still as pure as ever, " Axel shook a finger at Roxas before feeling the blood drain out of his face and a look of horror shoot across it, "Un-unless you know something that I don't...That girl better still be a fuckin' virgin! Oh, shit! Marly didn't rape her or anything, did he?!"

Roxas chuckled, mostly to himself when he saw Axel's reaction to the virgin comment. In truth, he'd simply forgotten she was the only snow-white-princess-of-purity left in the castle. He was, for obvious reasons, second in the running. "No, no. I just forgot about her, that's all...I'm sure Marluxia wouldn't do that ayways."

"You don't know my Marly, then," Axel said, still quite pale, as he stared as the cover still covering his lower half. After a minute of unnerving silence and creepy-rape thoughts, the red-head spoke up, "Well, um...So, you don't think that you fit because of those reasons?"

"And others, yes," Roxas replied, firmly.

"Um...Okay then..." Axel scooted down the length of the bed and looked thoughtfully at Roxas' face for a moment, "Well, as for being younger than us...so what? They could care less about age. And me and Demyx are only three years older anyways. It's not that big of a jump."

"But he's retarded."

"Well...yeah, he is..." Axel considered the point for a moment before moving on, "As for the keyblade, that's just awesome fuckin' luck, kid. Be grateful, ya know?"

"But it makes me so damned special and pampered, " Roxas stared down at his gloves again. "I hate it sometimes..."

"Let me get this straight..." Axel furrowed his brow and cocked his head in Roxas' direction, "You don't like the whole...'Don't fuck with little key-kid or we'll fuck with you' attitude that Saix and Mansex have towards you?"

Roxas shook his head and rolled his eyes. This drugged-up, oversexed pyro was getting a bit...annoying.

"Shit, kid...If I had that I'd abuse my privlages!" Axel shrieked, a little too enthusiastically.

"I'm not you, am I?" Roxas gave his curt reply, turning quickly away from the red-head and moving to the door. He had almost opened the door when he turned around, somewhat in thought, "Wait...You said 'Saix and Mansex'...Who's Mansex?"

Axel stared at the blonde for a second before bursting into hysterical laughter and throwing himself backwards onto the bed, "M-mansex...is...Xemnas...with the, ah...Heehee! The letters scrambled!"

"Oh...uh..." Roxas cracked a smile and even giggled a little, "That's an interesting way to look at things..."

"I know! Isn't it?" Axel continued to laugh, but sat back up and patted the spot where Roxas' behind had been recently planted, "C'mon, don't leave now...I'm just startin' to like you."

Roxas felt his face heat a bit at Axel's comment and he sat as instructed, looking away quickly. Axel chuckled once more before he stopped laughing and smiled widely in its place. He leaned over to Roxas and sighed, "So the last thing that you don't feel fits is your lack of un-virginess?" Roxas wobbled his head up and down a bit, not quite nodding. He wasn't sure what the consequences of his response would be.

"I can help you with that..." Axel slid out from under the blankets of his bed and knelt beside Roxas. Breathing softly onto the boy's neck, he slipped an arm around his slender frame and rubbed his thigh against the others'. He felt the blonde's breath hitch and his body shake into a rigid position while watching the hair on the back of his neck rise. Damn was he good.

"Axel...!" Roxas tried to sound urgent, but his cry turned to a whisper too easily and his body melted into Axel's arms. He watched as the red-head leaned in, hovering just beside his lips. And then he was dropped onto the floor.

"Ha-haaa!" Axel laughed heartily at the crumbled blonde on the floor, "You shoulda seen the look on yer face!"

Roxas growled from the floor, his face flushed and contorted in embarrassment, "…Very funny…" The blonde stood up and began to walk out again, his fist clenched at his sides.

"Aw, I was just messin' with ya, Rox! Relax!" Axel, for the third time, patted the bed as a signal for Roxas to sit.

"Why, Axel? Why should I relax?" The blonde scowled at him and placed his hand on the handle, preparing to leave.

"'Cause yer bein' a tightass…?" Axel replied sarcastically. This kid was too much…

"A tightass? Is that what you call a person who has an issue with who they are and why they exist?" Roxas' quick and painful words struck Axel just right. He was quite speechless.

"…"

"I came to talk to you, Axel. _You,_" The blonde stared at his booted feet for a moment, pausing briefly. As he spoke again, he raised his gaze to meet Axel's, "I thought you would might be different than them…I thought you would listen…Maybe even understand. I guess I thought wrong…"

Axel stared at the blonde's eyes as he spoke and read their sincerity. He cursed his drugged up conscience, blaming it for getting in the way of something real.

"Bye-"

"Wait a sec!" Axel leapt from the bed and grabbed a hold of Roxas' arm, "Don't go. You're right, I am different. I listened and I…I get what you mean about fitting…None of us really do…We just feel like we might fit better if we stick together…Strength in numbers, ya know?"

Roxas nodded, but still tried to leave. Axel pulled on his arm again and shot him a pleading look, "Roxas…Could you stay?"

"Why?" The blonde boy looked suspiciously at the older man.

"I…I like talking with you. You make me think, something I don't do much with anyone else…" Axel rolled his eyes at his own comment, tossing it around his head for a few moments before speaking again, "Would you stay?"

"Overnight?" Roxas inquired, looking wary, his mind kicking into action about Axel's tendencies.

"Yeah…I'll take the floor, you can have the bed…I just…I like your company, okay?"

Roxas, although still unsure about Axel's true motives, nodded, "Okay…"

"Yay!"

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AN: This one's long, but the others aren't... Sorry, I got a bit lazy as it went on... Review please!


	2. A New Mission

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 2 A New Mission**

"Hey Rox! Axel called out to the blonde boy walking down the hall before him. The boy stopped and turned around, scowling at whoever was calling him that name. Upon realizing it was Axel, however, his glare became a sunny smile meant only for the Chakram wielder.

After their little slumber party, Axel began to follow Roxas around the castle, first as an annoying gnat, but slowly becoming as welcome as a butterfly on a summer day. Axel, however, was no butterfly, but more like…a drug-addicted pyromaniac with an obsession with sex. At least there was never a dull moment…

"Hey," Roxas greeted the older man, his smile slipping away while his ego replaced it with his usual stoic expression, "How are you?"

"Not bad, not bad…And you?" Axel asked, walking ahead of the blonde and glancing back at him. Roxas jogged to catch up to the redhead, speaking as he did so.

"I'm fine. Where you going?"

"Just grabbin' some breakfast 'fore I head out…"

"So the kitchen, then?" Roxas asked sarcastically, already becoming annoyed with the older man's attitude.

"Yep," Axel replied smirking.

"Then where are you 'heading out' to?" Roxas walked a bit faster to keep up with the redhead's long, lazy strides. He didn't like being so short.

"I'm goin' wherever you go," Axel flashed a toothy grin at the boy, winking soon after.

"Why…?!" Roxas' face took on a look of complete terror and he stopped walking. Axel stopped with him.

"Mansex gave me a new mission."

"And?!"

"I'm supposed to follow you around."

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AN: So? Review please. I will update soon.


	3. Emerald Fire and Rainbows

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 3 Emerald Fire and Rainbows**

A few hours later, Axel and Roxas found themselves amongst heaps of fast fading Heartless. Roxas kicked a Shadow that was still wriggling in an attempt to keep its heart before plunging the Oathkeeper into its small chest. It writhed, obviously in pain, and twitched its antenna as it released it heart.

"Nice," Axel said from behind the blonde. He watched the Shadow dissolve into dust and its small heart float up into an equally miniscule vortex back to Castle Oblivion.

"…" Roxas stared at the dust of the Shadow, simmering as if it was hot, "Is it 'nice'?"

Axel looked up from stabbing at a fading Large Body, "Huh?"

"Is it 'nice'," Roxas asked, turning to his friend who was mindlessly setting bodies on fire, "What we're doing?"

Axel tried to pry his eyes from the large burning carcasses, but failed, too enthralled with the flames, "I guess so…"

"But does it benefit us?" Roxas inquired, watching the amber and crimson flames, so similar to the Chakram wielder's hair, turn cold and emerald in Axel's glassy and strikingly green eyes. He was the perfect picture of a Nobody, staring into the heat of completion only to discover that he is just a cheap recreation.

"It's supposed to, right?" Axel said, finally looking up at Roxas. His voice was low and hollow, as if he was accepting what he was again.

"But do you believe in that?" Roxas asked, still gazing into Axel's suddenly calm face, "Do you really think that Xemnas is willing to help us? He seems too selfish…"

"Even if…" Axel started, his eyes darting Roxas' face as if to avoid the blonde's timorous stare, "Even if he won't help all of us…He…He'd help you."

"No, he-" Roxas began to speak, trying to voice what he thought of as his opinion, but came to a halt when he realized the truth in Axel's words. He was the "key" to the Nobodys' future. Without him, Xemnas and the others would have no chance of becoming whole again. He didn't want to think about it.

"I'm bein' honest, here, Rox," Axel said, brushing past the boy as he spoke, "We can help him find the rainbow, but yer the only one who can get him to let us in on that tub o' gold."

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AN: Yeah, short again. So stone me. Review please...


	4. Got it Memorized

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 4 Got it Memorized?**

"So," Marluxia's strong arms held Axel close and his deep voice resonated in the redhead's chest, "What's going on with you and that blonde kid?"

This was the first time in weeks that the brunette had been able to be alone with the pyromaniac and he was thoroughly annoyed with his behaviors. He wouldn't look him in the eye, let alone become intimate. It had to do with the blonde. Marluxia was sure of it.

"He's just a friend," Axel said, tilting his head to allow the older man's lips to press against his neck. He lifted his arms onto Marly's shoulders and let his hands dangle onto his back, waiting for the older man to make his next move, but it didn't come.

"Just a 'friend'?" Marluxia growled the words out, dripping with venom and nearly stinging Axel's ears as they hit, "You don't have 'friends'."

Before he could protest, the redhead was shoved against a wall and pinned there, his arms above his head.

"You have me, Axel! Me! I am _everything_ to you, do you understand?!" A large gloved hand collided with Axel's face and sent him sprawling to the floor, pain shooting through his head. He tried to get up and run, but Marly was there, pulling him off the floor by his hair and speaking in his cold whisper again.

"If you leave, I swear, I'll make your life a living hell," Marluxia forced the Chakram wielder to look at him, squeezing the bruised side of his face, "Understand?"

"Got it memorized…Boss," Axel said, smiling in spite of his situation. That earned him another bruising blow to the face, this one smashing his cheek into his teeth, drawing blood.

"Shut up," Marly whispered, almost teasingly, as he dragged the battered man down the hall to his room. There, he ravaged him, taking nearly every ounce of pride that had once been so plentiful in the young man and spattering it onto the pristine white floors as he had done with his blood.

When the brunette was satisfied he pushed Axel off of his bed and threw him into the hallway, leaving him with just a few words, "You belong to me. 'Got it memorized'?"

A few hours later, Roxas would pass through the hall and find his broken friend and attempt, however fruitlessly, to fix him.

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AN: Gotta love Marly! Review damnit!


	5. Just Marly

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 5 Just Marly**

"Axel...?" Roxas saw the lump of black and vibrant red spikes crumpled on the sterile white floor just down the hall. He knew it was Axel and he needed to help him.

"Axel!" Roxas ran to the older boy, yelling his name in hopes of getting a response, but none came, "Axel!"

"No...Please..." Roxas dropped to his when he reached the redhead, fearing the worst, "Axel, wake up! Axel, _please_!"

"What...?" Axel finally managed to shisper, his eyes still closed from bruising. Roxas, almost in tears, threw himself over the other in a bear hug.

"Don't scare me like that!" Roxas cried into Axel's shoulder, emitting grunts of discomfort from the older boy who, due to his injuries, was feeling a bit tender.

"Damnit, Roxas!" Axel yelped, "That _hurts_!"

"Sorry..." Roxas whispered, sitting up and letting go of Axel while rubbing the tears from his cheeks. Axel sat up, his movements lethargic, and leaned his back against the wall, groaning slightly.

"'Salright...Could be worse," Axel said slowly, trying to open his eyes without much success.

"...What happened?" Roxas asked as he looked over the redhead's injuries. The assortment of bruises on his face and arms looked fairly painful, but nothing he couldn't survive. In any case, Roxas wanted to know who had done this. He decided that it was his job to "discuss" the penalties for hurting his best friend with the creep who had done it.

"Just..." Axel wanted to lie, but he couldn't. There was no tale he could spin in a situation like this, "It was just Marly..."

"Just Marly?!" Roxas' face suddenly contorted in anger, "How can you say that?!" You're beaten up like this and it's 'Just Marly'?!"

"It just got out of hand, okay?!" Axel eylled, straining his abused vocal chords, "He's usually like that! It just...Didn't stop this time..."

Roxas didn't say anything for a few minutes, his mind wrought with hateful thoughts towards Marluxia and Axel's stupidity. Without any way to know otherwise, Axel had thought that Roxas left him.

"Fine, just walk off..." The redhead whispered, tears welling behind his swollen eyelids eyes, "It's not like I care if you care. I don't like you...I don't care..."

"I haven't gone anywhwere, Axel," Roxas said, his voice a quiet cry, "I'm not going to go anywhere..."

Axel froze upon hearing those words. They chilled his emotions while melting his nonexistant heart. He was being flooded with a heatedlonging that somehow left him feeling alone. He wasn't sure what to call this new feeling, but it was amazing. It made him think again.

"Maybe Nobodies do have hearts..." Axel whispered, mostly to himself, as his tears found ways out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

"C'mon," Roxas choked out, pulling the redheads arm up as he stood. The older boy nodded, standing slowly with the other's help and hobbling down the hall towards a portal of darkness that Roxas had opened.

"Let's get you fixed up, okay?"

"...Okay."

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A/N: And the verdict is...? Well, tell me in a review, people!


	6. Burn, Baby, Burn

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 6 Burn, Baby, Burn**

"Hey, Roxas!" Axel yelled from his space lying on Roxas' bed. He had been there for three days, recovering from the incident with Marluxia. His stomach had just yelled at him, demanding food, so he had called his personal room service to make him something, "Rox! Can ya get me grilled cheese?!"

"What?" Roxas said, poking his head out of the bathroom off of his room. His hair hand limp around his face and historso was covered in condensation from the steam of the shower. Axel's eyes traveled over the blonde's shirtless chest, absorbing every detail toned body, and back up to his round, young face.

"C'you get me a grilled cheese?" Axel pouted, his eyes still trained on the blonde's and a blush touching his cheeks, "Please?"

Roxas noticed the redheads staring and grabbed a shirt, pulling it over his head and scowling, "Stop it."

"Huh?" Axel asked, still gazing at his friend. He cocked his head in confusion, raising and eyebrow. Roxas looked away, his face tinged with pink.

"Nevermind..." Roxas grumbled, grabbing his coat as he walked to the door, "You want yellow or white cheese?"

"Yellow!" Axel perked up again, smiling and clasping his hands together. Food could make him forget _anything_.

Smiling, Roxas walked out the door, "Alright, I'll be back soon. Lock the door."

"Okay!" Axel smiled, getting up and walking to the door behind Roxas. The blonde watched his grin fade as he closed the door, a soft _click_ sounding in the empty hall. He would be okay. Nothing was going to happen.

Having convinced himself that everything was going to be fine, Roxas opened a portal pf darkness and walked in, finding himself in the kitchen soon after. He went to the communal refridgerator and retrieved the ingredients for Axel's andwich, yellow cheese included. He made the sndwich, cooking quickly, and put the dishes in the sink, not bothering to clean them. Chances were that Vexen would come in and clean it all for him, if only to quench his obsessive compulsive thirst for cleanliness.

Once again, Roxas found himself walking into a portal, experiencing slight disorientation, and ending up right where he wanted to be. He walked up to his door and turned the handle. Locked. Just like he told Axel to leave it.

"Axel!" Roxas called after sighing in relief, "I'm back! C'you let me in!"

Roxas waited to hear the redheads tired, rough voice yell something snippy at him, but it didn't come. He called out again, figuring that Axel was jus in the bathroom, maybe showering, "Axel!! Hey! Lemme in!"

A few more minutes and no response. Roxas decided to use his last resort. He kicked the door in.

"Axel! What the fuck are you - Axel...?" Roxas looked over to his bed and saw two figures tangled up in his sheets. Axel and Marluxia were using his bed to screw around in. _His_ room. _His _bed. _His_ Axel.

Normal, stable Roxas would have whipped the sheets off of the two of them, thrown them both out of his room, sworn a bit, and then disposed of their clothes by way of windows. But stable Roxas wasn't registering and the only part of him left to react were his emotions.

"I...I thought..." Roxas tried to speak, but his throat closed up, causing his words to sound more like breaths. Despite its suddenly soft quality, the blonde's voice reached Axel's ears. His eyes grew wide and his head turned towards the source of the sound.

"Roxas...?" Upon realizing the situation he was in, Axel gasped, squirming out from underneath Marluxia and pulling his pants on. By the time he had the black trousers settled on his hips, Roxas had already gone running out of the room, his eyes glistenning with tears of betrayal. Axel ran out after him, calling to him, "Roxas!! Wait!"

But it was too late. Before Axel could reach him, Roxas opened a dark portal and stepped in, his blue eyes glaring daggers at the older boy as it closed.

"No...! Roxas..." Axel sank to his knees, his green orbs lacing his tattoos with their living inspiration. Marluxia, extremely angered at the erratic behavior of the redhead, marched down the hall towards him, his scythe in hand. Axel turned to face him, his sadness now a blazing storm of hate directed at the man who had been using him sinc the moment they met. He stood, watching the other grow nearer and summoning his Chakram to his able hands, "This is all your fault...This is all your fucking fault!"

Axel charged the bigger man, throwing his all his force behind his spinning wheels of blades. Marluxia dodged expertly, smiling when the younger man missed him, and drew back his scythe for a swing at Axel's back. The long blade connected, slicing a thin line into the rehead's back and emitting a pained hiss from him. Axel spun around, ignoring the smarting injury on his back, and charged again, this time feinting just before Marly and blasting him with a fireball instead.

"Burn, baby, burn!" He cried out, feeling victorious as the older man's open jacket ignited and sent him into a frenzy to put it out. Axel took that opportunity to charge again, this time taking a shot at the brunette' head and effectively knocking him out, "Serves ya right, asshole."

Leaving Marluxia to burn in all of his dominating glory, Axel ran back to Roxas' room to retrieve his jacket and begin his search for the boy in need of an explaination.

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A/N: Only a few more chapters to go...I just might update faster if I get reviews...


	7. Stale Cigarettes and SeaSalt Ice Cream

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or anything affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 7 Stale Cigarettes and Sea-Salt Ice Cream**

"Roxas?!" Axel called out into the darkness of the beach, looking for the small cloaked form belonging to Roxas. His eyes drifted over the pale, sandy dunes hiding under the inky sky that seemed to envelope the edges of the small world while holding up the moon-like sun. Catching nothing worthwhile with eyesight alone, Axel ran down the white hills, closing in on the slow-rising tide and yelled out again, "Roxas?!"

Scanning the horizon again, Axel found a small lump of black on the pristine white sands. Knowing just exactly what it was, he ran towards it, calling out as he did so, "Roxas!!"

Upon hearing Axel's voice, the lump-presumed-to-be-Roxas, jumped up and began to run away, the hood flopping away to reveal a head full of blonde spikes. Looking back to Axel, the lump-now-known-to-be-Roxas, tripped on the end of his duster and fell, yelping as he did so.

"Roxas!" Axel cried out, diving towards Roxas and grabbing his hands. The blonde boy, obviously not content with the pyro holding onto him, flailed and kicked, trying to get away from him in an extremely childish manner. "Roxas, Wait! Just listen to me!"

"Why?!" Roxas screamed, tears staining his face. "Why should I listen to you?! Nothing you can say is gonna change what happened!!"

"How do you know?!" Axel shot back, pushing the younger boy into the sand. He had been about to respond when the realization hit him. Nothing he could say _would _make any difference. But something he _did_, could...

Roxas, who had been ranting through his tears the entire time, tried to continue, saying something about what he felt versus Axel's actions. Ignoring that Roxas had been confessing nearly everything to him, Axel pinned his arms above his head and kissed the younger boy. A few seconds later, the pyromaniac broke the kiss and sat up, leaving the blonde boy lying stunned in the sand.

"Why...?" Roxas mumbled from his sandy bed, his tears no longer falling. "Why'd you do that...?"

"Because words don't mean much," Axel replied, shifting his position so that he might watch the incoming waves.

"Mmmm..." Roxas hummed, licking his lips slowly. He tried to find Axel's taste, but the brief kiss hadn't left any trace of it behind. Deciding that he wanted to find out just what the redhead tasted like, the younger boy sat up and moved himself behind Axel, touching his shoulder lightly. "Axel...?"

"Hmmm?" Axel turned around, looking genuinely curious, and faced Roxas completely. "Can I help you?"

"No," Roxas whispered, pushing himself towards Axel's face with every ounce of courage he had. "I can help myself."

"Okay, then," Axel began, closing his eyes with a smile and a small laugh. Before he could continued, however, Roxas took his face and pressed their lips together. By briefly licking the older boy's lower lip, Roxas found that Axel tasted of stale cigarettes and sea-salt ice cream, an interesting, but less than delectable, mixture.

While Roxas was enjoying his findings, Axel was freaking out. Under normal circumstances, the redhead would have reacted in kind with his young friend's advances, perhaps deepening the kiss and laying him down in the sand to make love. Under the circumstances of the moment, however, Axel found his eyes wide open and his jaw slack with confusion.

"Mmmm!" The older boy whined, squirming out of Roxas' grasp, his face contorted in befuddlement, "What're you doin'?!"

"Tasting you," Roxas said plainly, looking the redhead directly in the eye. "Is there something wrong with that...?"

"N-no, no, not at all," Axel said, shaking his head and looking away. After contemplating just what was going on, Axel decided to take the opportunity before him and embrace, egging the younger boy on. "So, um, whaddo I taste like...?"

"Something along the lines of old tobacco and those ice cream bars you like so much..."

"Oh...That's sorta gross, huh?"

"Yeah, just sorta."

"Can I, um, taste you...?"

"I don't see why not..."

A kiss was planted. Tongues wrestled.

"So, whaddo I taste like?"

"Strawberries and toothpaste."

"Oh, that's not very -"

"It's exceptional."

**AN: The End. Review, please.**


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